TOLEDO -- The man accused of snatching 14-year-old Eileen Adams as she left school and dumping her body in a remote Michigan field in 1967 denied ever knowing the girl during the retrial on Wednesday.
Robert Bowman, 75, accused Toledo police detectives and his ex-wife of making up evidence against him and that he only knew what the court told him about the girl.
Margaret Bowman told jurors she witnessed Adams alive and bound in her basement. She also said Bowman threatened to kill her and her child if she did not help him dump the body.
"No, I did not," he told jurors. "That isn't something I would do."
Unlike his first trial, which ended in a hung jury, Bowman took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors maintain the semen evidence found on the victim's underwear links the crime to Bowman and there is only a one in 4 million chance it came from anyone else.
Bowman couldn't explain how his DNA ended up on the victim's clothing told jurors, "Anything's possible."
Jurors will hear closing arguments on Thursday. Bowman faces life in prison if convicted.
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